Vallejo's Boys and Girls club seek volunteers for renovations

The Continentals of Omega Boys and Girls Club needs a facelift -- and volunteers to make that happen.

The storied North Vallejo building, the old stomping grounds of New York Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia, is the center of this year's "Call to Change Vallejo."

The event combines the efforts of Vallejo Outreach, an annual kid's carnival and food giveaway, with those of Rebuilding Together Solano County, which renovates community buildings and the homes of low-income seniors and focuses them on a particular area of Vallejo.

Last year, it was the south side, with Rebuilding Together rehabilitating the home of an elderly woman. This year, it's North Vallejo.

"We felt that need was great to do this building rather than a house," said Elizabeth Hoffman, Rebuilding Together's executive director, as she unloaded supplies at the back of the club on Tuesday.

Initially, Hoffman thought she and her volunteers would be responsible for renovating the club's community garden, which was one of the voter-approved recipients of Vallejo's recent Participatory Budgeting experiment.

However, those funds have yet to be disbursed by the city government, leading to a quick change of plans for the club.

Rather than the garden, volunteers will do some landscape maintenance and repaint some of the aging building's exterior. Additionally, volunteers will repair benches and build picnic tables in the club's field, as well as scrub graffiti off playground equipment.

Once the Participatory Budgeting funds are released, Hoffman said her team will return to finish off the community garden.

The renovation begins at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, and the organization will accept volunteers 14 years or older. Additionally, the free carnival and food giveaway portion of Vallejo Outreach begins at 11 a.m.

The club is located at 1 Positive Place in North Vallejo. For more information, contact Hoffman at (707) 580-9360 or email her ehoffman.rtsc@gmail.com.